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Post Tagged with: "Tim Armstrong"

Looking to further bolster its advertising offerings, AOL said it will pay up to $101 million to acquire Santa Monica-based Convertro, a developer of attribution modeling technology for brands and agencies. The deal includes $89 million in cash, $2 million in converted stock awards and up to $10 million more in earn-outs, based on the satisfaction of certain product development milestones. Read More

Some AOL employees are reacting angrily to a change in their compensation package, with the Internet company deciding to match 401(k) contributions in one lump sum at the end of each year, instead of as employees contribute. In a conference call Thursday, CEO Tim Armstrong blamed the change on rising healthcare costs, citing a $7.1 million bill related to Obamacare and payments of $1 million each to two employees with 'distressed" babies. Read More

AOL said on Thursday it will pay $90.7 million to acquire Gravity, a Santa Monica-based developer of "interest graphs" that let publishers personalize content based on individuals' interests, preferences and habits. Under the deal, expected to close later this quarter, AOL will pay $83 million up front, as well as an additional $7.7 million over the next two years. . Read More

Following more than four years of unrealized expectations, AOL will sell a majority stake in hyperlocal news network Patch to turnaround specialist Hale Global. Financial terms of the deal, expected to close early in the first quarter, were not disclosed. Patch will become a new limited liability company, with AOL keeping a minority stake. The companies said they plan to re-launch Patch as "an efficient platform that allows citizens and businesses to create and share locally-themed news and content.". Read More

AOL on Friday announced plans to significantly downsize its Patch local news business, cutting nearly half of its approximately 1,000 employees and either closing or consolidating about 20% of its money-losing websites. "Patch's strategy will be to focus resources against core sites and partner in towns that need additional resources," AOL said in a statement. "Unfortunately, with these changes we are announcing today, we will be reducing a substantial number of Patch positions." . Read More

AOL could shed one-third of its financially struggling Patch hyperlocal news sites, CEO Tim Armstrong said. In a conference call on Wednesday, Armstrong told analysts that roughly 300 of the company's 900 Patch sites will struggle to reach his stated goal of profitability by the end of this year. "One-third are basically very good-looking things, viable business models that we want to pursue," said Armstrong. "One-third look like they are going to get to that first bucket. And one-third basically look like, in the timeframe and focus we have right now on getting to profitability, it's going to be tough." . Read More

Continuing its push into the online video space, AOL said on Wednesday it will pay $405 million to acquire Silicon Valley-based Adap.tv, developer of a programmatic video ad platform for brands, agencies and publishers. Under the deal, expected to close by the end of September, AOL will pay $322 million in cash, as well as another $83 million in company stock. Adap.tv will operate independently as part of AOL's video organization, led by Senior Vice President Ran Harnevo. Read More